The Talent Market

IV. From Yahoo to Yahoo! in Three Days

Thursday: It's 6:30 on a balmy night in San Francisco's financial district. Around the corner, the Pacific Stock Exchange has shut down for the evening. But here, in a breezy seventh-floor conference room, another market is about to get under way.

"Welcome to M2," says cofounder Paula Reynolds, 43, to the 35 men and women sitting nervously in front of her. Although it's the end of the business day, they're freshly scrubbed and dressed in their business best.

They're here for the free-agent version of a road show: a chance to introduce themselves, to showcase their talent - and to take the first step toward being listed on M2's stock exchange. They get about one minute each to introduce themselves. The unstated goal is to sear an impression in the minds of the M2 talent agents who are gathered on the room's periphery.

Norma Castrillo, 41, wearing an elegant purple suit, doesn't bother to stand. She lives in Concord, 30 miles to the northeast, and she's a little tired from her trip to the city. Besides, as she'll tell you, she wasn't too eager to come to a meeting that isn't likely to produce results. So when it's her turn to talk, she's crisp and to the point. "I'm an HR administrator specializing in payroll benefits and HRIS [human-resources information systems]," she says. "I was a payroll-benefits administrator for 1,700 employees. Then my company closed its doors. Now I'm looking for new opportunities to do what I did before, but for different companies rather than just one."

There's nothing too memorable about her presentation, nothing that makes her stand out from the crowd. But when the session is over, Ann Fischer Hecht, 35, an M2 vice president, makes a beeline to Castrillo. "Norma," she says, "I need to talk to you."

Start the clock with that brief conversation. Over the next 24 hours, Castrillo will go from being just another unemployed yahoo to being the next hot IPO - the next Yahoo!

Friday: Hecht arrives at the office early in the morning. She looks over Castrillo's résumé, which she had made sure to snag the night before. Then she faxes it to a client of hers, Williams-Sonoma. In the new talent market, a résumé functions much as a red herring functions in the equities market - not as an official public offering but as a preliminary statement of what's to come. Williams-Sonoma's payroll-benefits administrator is leaving in a week. The company still hasn't found anyone to step in, and it's getting desperate.

"Norma's experience is not something that a lot of free agents can claim to have," Hecht says. When she heard Castrillo, "I had this shock of recognition that she could be perfect for the client."

A short while later, Myrna Benefiel, a manager of client services at M2, calls Castrillo. While Hecht lines up investors, Benefiel works on whipping the offering into shape. She talks to Castrillo for half an hour and discusses an hourly rate - that is, Castrillo's initial offering price. By 10 a.m., a stock called Norma is ready to go public. The transaction is happening faster than anyone at M2 can remember.

Williams-Sonoma receives Castrillo's targeted profile - in other words, her prospectus. The company is interested. Very interested. It wants to get on board before another buyer does.

At 1 p.m., Hecht calls Castrillo and asks her to come to M2's offices. Castrillo pleads for time - she's facing another journey from Concord - but two hours later, she's meeting with Hecht. And by 4 p.m., Castrillo is at Williams-Sonoma headquarters in downtown San Francisco, interviewing for a 13-week assignment. After an hour, the interviewer expresses strong interest in hiring her. In fact, would Castrillo like a full-time job? Surprise! Instead of taking part in her IPO, Williams-Sonoma is making a bid for a friendly takeover. Castrillo says no. She wants to be a free agent. But she's pumped. She starts the drive back to Concord.

When she arrives home a little before 7 p.m., she finds her husband on the phone. He's talking to Hecht - who has good news: Williams-Sonoma has agreed to her price. It's a done deal.

Monday: It's 9 a.m. Castrillo is sitting at her new desk. It's day one of her new assignment. Her IPO has been a huge success. "I knew a lot of people who were resentful after they were let go," Castrillo says. "I just didn't feel that way. I knew that other opportunities would come along. Something pushed me to M2's offices Thursday night." She laughs. "But I never thought that on Monday I'd wake up and have to go to work."